COLUMBUS — Starting on Saturday, Aug. 3 and continuing through Thursday, Aug. 8, the public may notice a heavy presence of first responders, military personnel, military aircraft, and emergency vehicles in multiple areas throughout Ohio as training operation Vigilant Guard gets started.

Vigilant Guard is the largest disaster response exercise in the state of Ohio’s history. The exercise is sponsored by U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) in conjunction with the National Guard Bureau (NGB) and hosted locally by the Ohio National Guard and Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Vigilant Guard is designed to help local, state, and federal agencies coordinate emergency relief efforts, as well as response and recovery management.

The Ohio National Guard will host a Media Day that includes a flight aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to observe select Vigilant Guard exercise sites on Aug. 7, 2019, at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Columbus and the Knox County Fairgrounds in Mount Vernon, Ohio.